The Targets
by BeingWhoIWishIWas
Summary: Lian is Red Arrows daughter, She's one of many in the new generation of superheroes that is destined to be the ones to deal with the world being taken over by a group bent on using heroes to conquer other worlds by using the people of earth as hostages to force the heroes to comply, or be hunted. Villains target the heroes; Fight for us or people will die. You have one week.
1. Welcome to Starling City

So, basically, this story is kind of an AU in which Jade disappears leaving Roy (clone one, not the 'real' one...) anyways, I haven't seen a lot of season two since they cancelled the show and I haven't seen reruns yet :( so you'll have to excuse any incorrect BLAH that I write, but it's has nothing to do with the show's plot line. I'm also not following some of the comics in which Lian (Roy's daughter) dies, so yeah. let me know what you think! :)

thanks,

BeingWhoIWishIWas

* * *

"Lian! I told you to wear the colored contacts when you take on your alias!" Dad yelled up at me from just below the loft. I roll my eyes at him; overprotective as always. I mean, colored contacts? I already wear a mask! Not to mention everything about me looks different when I become Her. Since I was fourteen I've been a vigilante like my dad and the Justice League; though they don't consider it much of a crime to be a vigilante anymore; I mean, really? Who wants to even attempt to get Batman or Superman in a prison cell? Not a very good idea. I'm not really part of the League or the YJ Team, I just do my own thing, and have been for the last three years. However, I've never bothered to think of an approved name (Don't even ask, just know that my dad has something to do with the 'approved' bit.) So I just say I'm "Her" when I talk about my alias. I climb across the loft and slide down the steel latter down to the rest of my room before heading downstairs.

"You rang?" I say, teasingly.

Dad's eyebrow shoots straight up before settling into an arch. "Any reason you've been neglecting your alias's appearance?"

I slide out a chair at the table and plop down and attempt to explain, "Dad, I look, sound and act completely different when I turn into Her, so there's nothing to worry about."

He 'hmph!'s and stares me down but doesn't say anything else on the subject.

My pocket vibrates and I read the text sent from Kalli;

_10 tonight? Regular spot; text Rick, Jase and X for me, K?_

I reply with my ever-intricate, "K" Then text our other friends; _Patrol 10, regular spot._

Three "K"s follow and we're all set.

I glance at the clock, it's barely eight so I've got plenty of time for homework and my growling stomach.

"What's for dinner, anyways?" I ask.

Dad looks up from the computer he had pulled onto his lap a few minutes ago. "Mac'n'cheese?"

I nod, and give him a half-smile before heading into the kitchen and setting the water on to boil. I head upstairs and call over my shoulder to him to tell me when it boils. He acknowledges and I roll my eyes, not really knowing why. I scramble up to the loft, and pull out the worst book I've ever read-and this is coming from me! A hardcore bookworm! (Never thought you'd see those words in a sentence, huh?) I grab a few pillows and throw them against my chosen wall and settle in. I pull my thick gold hair into a braid. I unhappily begin reading, silently cursing the teacher who forced this upon me just because I was reading in class. Look, lady, just because I like to read doesn't mean I like to read _everything. _Some books just aren't worth the time and energy. (I'd rather read some textbooks than the piece of historical BLAH that's in my hands right now!)

* * *

My brown eyes are bloodshot, sore and very, very angry with me for wasting their precious sight on something as awfully written as that thing, I'm embarrassed to be the same species as the people who consider that 'book' literature. I'm fairly sure that my angular features on my face look sick from disgust (three guesses why) and I slide down the loft's latter and my phone vibrates as I hit the floor. I pull it out and read my texts.

_Kalli; Where R U?_

_Jase: U coming, Lian?_

_AleX: No ditching allowed, L! Don't make me hunt U down!_

_Rick: Helllllllloooo?_

_AleX: U OK?_

I roll my eyes and walk to the closet, hitting the button in the back that allows me to access the hidden room behind it. My secret Lair, as it is. I quickly change into my outfit, clip thirteen knives to my hips and sling my quiver and bow across my back, then I slip out the blacked-out window, closing it silently behind me. I creep up the side of the building by the fire escape, and take a moment as I reach the top, a sense of wonder swelling in my chest as a smirk tugs at the corners of my mouth; I'll never get used to the view of the night city. Soft lights of the buildings and harsh brightness of the downtown area; signs, traffic signals and police cars. I laugh quietly at the view, at Starling City. Beautiful and dangerous, harsh and strong. I shake my head and my mind flashes to my waiting friends. I sling my bow over my shoulder and into my hand before shooting a line to the closest building and zip-lining across. The wind whips my side-French-braid around but I barely notice as the feeing of freedom in its purest form overwhelms me. I land in a quick, tight roll and am on my feet in a fraction of a second. My mind flashes to my friends and I make a point to get a move on. X and Jase aren't patient people. Kalli and Rick are a bit more level-headed and way less likely to jump to the worse-case scenario.

I race around the city with my zip-lines and make it to the warehouse in less than ten minutes. I slip through the window and land ten feet down in a crouch,

Jase's ever-green colored eyes are the first to spot me from the ratty couch where he's happily being a loner amongst loners. He crosses his arms and his eyebrows shoot up. Kalli turns from her conversation with Rick and X and rolls her eyes at me.

"Ready to party?" Kalli says through her full-face mask that leaves no facial features visible.

I answer with a smirk and with that the five of us simultaneously rush out of the building towards the nearest sirens.


	2. We have backup, right?

Jase and I sip-line through the city, while Rick speeds along on the ground below, scouting far ahead, Kalli and X fly just above Jase and I. We head towards 18th and Blaze.

I shoot another Zip-line and Jase follows behind me on it, I hear him shout something against the wind. I laugh, not hearing anything with the rush of air filling my ears. I leap of the line, Jase follows behind me, grabbing the arrow and following without stopping or even hesitation. He smiles and repeats what he said earlier.

"Cut your hair or get a hat! I'm getting beat up by it!" He says, amused.

I raise and eyebrow and smirk as we run across the roofs, hurdling different metal pipes, tubes, shafts and whatever other junk someone decided to throw on their roof. We're the last of the five to make it to 18th and Blaze, where Rick and the others have just arrived. The huge prision is on lockdown, police cars are scattered along the streets surrounding the prision.

"Who do ya think it is this time?" X says, exasperated.

I shrug, not having a clue. I jump down from the eight-story bilding's roof and my hands catch on various signs and window ledges until I land on the street. I walk over to Cheif Jackson and ask who's breaking out.

His usually laugh-creased face is now worried, even scared. "It's not one. It's all of them."

My mouth goes dry, we aren't ready for this! I grit my teeth and clench my fists around my bow. I force myself to exhale, and not show my concerns to the police officers; they're freaked as it is. I try radioing my dad and other heroes but apparently, break outs like this are going on at almost all of the major super-prisions. They can't come. I sigh and I flash up my hand in a signal to my friends. They're on the street within seconds.

"We've got a mass break out." I say.

"And back up? We've got some back up, too, right?" Rick says after he closes his mouth. I shake my head. Kalli's face sets into a scowl and X just cracks her knuckles, almost gleefully.

"We got this. Now, lets go kick some serious bad guy butt." X says, smirking, not remotely concerned.

I laugh, and nod before my thoughts take a more serious turn; we have to do this. The villains are confined right now but the second they aren't all hell will break loose, this has to be taken care of _now._ I glance at my teammates and nod; we spring into action, racing past the police lines and into the huge building.

"Split up; Kalli takes the first four floors, Rick the next four, Jase the next, X and then me, OK?" I suggest, my friends each nod and they race off to knock the heads assigned to them. I sigh, they don't know the layout like I do. I deliberately decided to take on some of the roughest ones, including X's dad. Joker.

I rush up the stairs, sixteen flights and barely a drop of sweat. (Hey, there are some advantages to having a health-freak-superhero for a dad) I stay against the wall, bow in had and arrow strung. I press my head to the cool steel plates against the wall, tensed and alert. There's a swarm of bad guys in the center; they're tormenting their guards. The guard is a pretty big guy, mostly muscle; he's being held down and repeatedly punched, kicked and teased. Anger bubbled in my gut, and I felt my eyes widen and my muscles shake with anger. Something in my mind snaps as my own memories run through my head. I jump out of my corner and run on my toes at them, subconciously putting my bow and arrow back on my back and drawing two knives, a short, serrated one in my left and a longer one in my right (almost short-sword length) and charge towards them, leaping onto a big-guys back and kicking off of it onto others, bashing heads and hitting them with the hilt of my blade, my serrated knife leaving jagged cuts on their arm and my long knife slashing all over the place. Eventualy, I'm back on the ground, where I continue to kick, knee, elbow and punch the villains, until they're all on the floor. I haul them into the cells and slam it shut, jamming an arrow into each lock; they melted the steel and I turned on the power sheilds again. (Happy Hacking to Me.) I lean the guard against the wall, he's barely concious. I dial 911 on his phone and report the situation to them, telling them to check in with my friends to get up here. I myself check in with my team, so far everyone's OK and fighting on.

One floor down, three to go. The seventeeth, eighteenth and nineteenth floors go about the same. I'm covered in bruises, cuts and a fair amount of blood. My vision is getting fuzzy. I grit my teeth, clench my fists and swear that I'll go get this done and check in with my friends and help them if they need it. I lean on the wall, and notice the blood dripping on it. Is that mine? I look down and left side is pretty messed up,apparently someone else likes serrated blades. I exhale deeply, focusing on the pain and then shove it to the back of my mind. I draw my bow and an arrow; focus my vision on my target, a certain green-haired villain. I fire, and it lodges itself deep into the Joker's right shoulder, he howls and whirls around, and I send several more shots into the crowd to villains. A few fall, but ten more are coming for me, smirking evilly. A huge, broad guy is the first to reach me, quickly throwing me against the wall, I yelp and my bow snaps in half. My eyes widen and I roll just in time to avoid gigantum fists slamming into my ribs. I pull out a dagger and hurl it at the big guy, it rips into his upper arm. His eyes go bloodshot with pure anger and the other villains fall back, like kids in a school yard egging on a bully. Been there, done that. I'm done with that. Adrenaline rushes through my veins and stuggle to my feet, two knives appeared in my hands as I ducked several blows and jabbed him in the ribs. That didn't last long; my final surge of energy was over in minutes; four more villains to go. Joker and three guys that are literally four times my size and all muscle.

Thug One crashed into me, sending me flying. Flying isn't in my power description, in case you were wondering. My body slammed into the metal-reinforced wall, cracking at least one of my ribs. Thug Two picked me up by my neck. I grasped at his fists as my lungs stretched to the point of bursting. The corners of my visions are going from fuzzy to black, and it's spreading to the rest of my sight. My lungs are burning and I've lost some feeling in my face but I continue to claw at his arms but my stregth is fading fast.

"You're kidding me, right? She's less than a hundred pounds and you have to concentrate that hard on strangling her? At least give her a chance!" A new voice says, I can practiaclly hear the smirk he's wearing around on his face. The Joker gasps and then replies something I can't hear.

"Fine." The voice says, and suddenly something slams into Thug Two and I'm released. I gasp for breath, my lungs grasping at it like it's gold slipping through the cracks in my fingers. I cough and shake, half-aware of a man dressed in black beating up the Thugs and Joker. My vision's cleared, and the bad guys are flat on their faces with the others, and the guy's dragging them back into the cell.

I put my palm on the wall and get to my feet. Tears burn at the back of my eyes as I spot my broken bow on the floor several feet away. Dad gave me that, a token of his acceptance of my risking my life just like he did for Starling City, and occasionally, the world. The guy who saved me (who I now see is a pale, black-haired, lean but muscular teenager) picks it up and silently hands it to me.

"So what exactly happened to you? I've read your reports and you aren't often beat." He says. I scowl, which makes the bruises and cuts on my face hurt worse.

"Unless it was you that took out the top four levels...by yourself?" His eyes widen in realization. He smirks and sticks out his hand, "I'm called Graywing."

"Nightwing's kid?" I ask, searching my memory. Graywing nods, and asks, "And you're the nameless protector of Starling City, along with the famous X, Quickfoot, and Miss Martian's kid, and a super-kid who's name I don't recall."

"Yeah, that's us."

Graywing nods yet again, "So what do I call you if you don't have a name?"

"You've read the file, smart one. You've got acess if you don't remember, but I'm not sayin' in in front of a security camera, thanks very much." I say a little snarkily.

Graywing smirks, and my radio hisses at me, "Hey! You guys OK?" X's voice comes through, "need some help on level fifteen! And, Nameless, you are in serious trouble! I can't believe you would-"

I cut her off, "I'm fine and I'll be down in a second, got an ally with me, too."

X huffs on the other side of the line but lets it go for now. I click the radio off and beckon to Graywing from the stair, where I'm leaning heavily on the railing, clutching my side wound.

"You coming, or can I go now?" I say, exasperatedly.

"Coming, I've been itching for a good fight; that last one wasn't enough, you did too good a job." He says, snickering at the unconcious villains in their cells. I nod, but wonder how the villains got out in the first place, or, more accurately; who let them out?


	3. Nevermind, me

Author's Note!

So there has been almost no response to this story, at all. It's fine if you hate it and think it's awful but I'm in need of some feedback; I can't fix something if I don't know what specifically is wrong, and I don't want to write this when it's a waste and I could be focusing on something else, just sayin'. :P Anyways, thanks to Coolgal13 for favorite-ing, I appreciate it! :)

Thanks a ton for reading (and hopefully reviewing or something),

BeingWhoIWishIWas

* * *

I grip the railing with ivory-knuckled hands as I descend the stairs, Graywing watching me warily, like one would a child holding a China teacup. I shoot the disarmingly-handsome (curses, stupid teenage-ness!) hero a glare, just to remind him that I'm _not _breakable; I'm not a China teacup, thanks very much. He smirks back, pale blue eyes slightly amused. I finally make it to the nineteenth floor. My side is burning, my ribs ache and there's three more flights to go. Graywing scowls and looks at me as we both realize this is going to slow.

"You better go, I'll catch up later." I say, clenching my fingers around the fabric and the wound on my side.

He rolls his eyes, "Not likely, if you pass out you'd die."

"So now you're a psychic." I grumble.

"Just logical." He says, smirking, "But this is going to slow, you're friend's in trouble."

"So go, smart one!" I hiss, scowling to keep myself from showing too much pain.

He shrugs, "X won't trust me if I show up without you." And with that he scoops me up without warning, bridal style. I grit my teeth and try to calm the heat rushing to my face.

"Put me down!" I screech, then play the best card in my deck, "That _hurts!" _Childish, I know, but it ought to work. He looks at me and raises an eyebrow at me. I glare back at him.

"You wanna save your friend or what?" That shut me up real fast but I narrow my eyes anyways. The two of us race down the stairs, I grit my teeth as the pain spikes with each step, I'm jostled all over the place.

Finally, he sets me down, and apologizes for carrying me. I "hmph" but don't say much else.

My feet touch the ground and I see spots but steady myself, and push Graywing away as he reaches to catch me, "I haven't fallen, smart one." He shurgs and says that I was about to. I roll my eyes, and gesture to the door.

"Let's go."

I draw my bow and string an arrow. I narrow my eyes and focus on the big guy about to stab X to death. I let it loose, and miss my target, but manage to hit his arm. He screeches and drops the knife. X whirls around for a moment and grins. Rick speeds past me, barely a flash of gold and blue goes by. Stupid speedster. A dog-pile of prisoners fly across the room and Jase waves at me, smirking at me.

"Where's K?" X yells over the crowd.

I shrug and clutch my wound with my left hand and the hilt of a serrated dagger finds its way into my right hand. I grin, no doubt I look crazy; clutching a bloody wound with a bloody hand with a knife in my hand and a grin on my face. Insanity is the ultimate disguise for pain. And let me tell you, it works.

I clench my fist around the hilt and ignore the pain surging through my veins. I take a shaky breath and plunge into the battle. I slash, bash and get beat up, Jase stays close after he notices my wound; why do people treat me like a glass doll when I'm seriously wounded? Honestly!

Kalli finally arrives and promptly telekinetically throws eight bad guys into their cells. A dagger lodges itself in her upper arm. She howls in pain and my eyes widen and a yell escapes my mouth before I steel myself; stuff like that has happened to all of us, she'll survive and X is already moving towards her.

I press my hand harder into my sipped up flesh, trying to stop the gush of blood. I hiss through my teeth and whirl around to glare at my attacker who recently slashed a glass shard across my upper arm, blood seeps through my clothes and becomes sticky as it mixes with sweat. I lash out with a howl, smashing in his cheekbone with the hilt before whipping around and ducking down to stab my blade into another thugs leg. I roll away as pain from the quick movement (and the further prokation to my wound) overwhelms my mind, my eyes are wide and mouth open in a silent scream of pain, the villain called Snip's scissor-like blades are coming towards my face, I kick out and she's forced back a few feet. Graywing takes it from there. Out of nowhere, something hits, and buries into my back. I gasp, but it barely adds to the pain of my side wound.

I try to get up, but my vision blurs and I fall back down. I reach back and pull the hilt of a blade out of my back and throw it away. I look up to find ten Graywing's coming towards me. They blur together sometimes and this confuses me even more. I don't like it. I don't trust even one of the ten Graywings. Or the ten Jases or Xs. Not one. I throw a four-inch blade at Graywing but it misses; if they hadn't blurred together it would have hit one of them; the blade flew through the space occupied by one of the Graywings only seconds before. I grit my teeth and scramble back until my back meets the wall, my face reddens and betrayal echoes through my mind and pulses through my blood and heart. Fine. I don't need them anyway. I yell at them to get back and stay away, or I'll kill them all. I will, I promise. I will.

They came closer anyways, until I was surrounded.

* * *

"Lian?" A voice pierces the clouds obscuring me-protecting me-from the outside world.

"Hey! She moved a bit!" Another voice said cheerily.

"So, she's gonna be OK, right?"

"Yeah, she's tough." A gruffer, more distant voice says.

Are they talking about me? Why am I not OK right now? Why do I need to get better if I feel fine. Suddenly, a chill spreads over me, then a heat. I close my eyes and snap them open again; this time I see no clouds, only a too-neat, too-clean hospital room with six people scattered about the room. Dad, Jase, Kalli, X, Rick and Graywing.

"So anyone wanna tell me what the crap I'm doing here?" I say crankily.

"You had dozens of wounds, two critical and poison in your veins, where else should we have taken you?" Graywing answers snarkily.

I roll my eyes but that makes my head hurt, "Fair enough." I recall my delusions and throwing knives and ask, "Did I hurt anyone?"

"Got me in the shoulder. Good aim for seeing ten of me." He replies. "But it's not serious, I'm stitched up and ready run towards danger at the first sign of it."

I nod, chewing my lip; not happy that I hurt an ally of mine, "Delusions. I didn't trust any of you and I freaked."

"Take note; never again get on the bad side of Lian and then freak her out. Good to know." He smirks and then continues. He looks different without the mask and costume. More, I don't know, more human.

"As I was saying before you zoned out," Graywings voice brings me back to earth, "I'll be, uh, supervising you little unofficial team until the League decides to induct you all into the League as a branch of Young Justice. Plus the want me here so you don't kill yourself by overworking yourself before you're recovered."

"Great, two annoyances to the team in one day!" X mutters.

Graywing looks at me for a translation. I reply wearily, "An injured teammate and an addition who needs to be shown the ropes of Starling."

He just grins, despite the jab at him and says simply, "Sounds like a challenge, sure you five are up for it?"

He's met with five determined, withering stares. It's amazing he doesn't burst into flames as I reply, "You call that a challenge? If that's all the world has to throw at us these days, we might was well retire."


	4. It begins

"Alright, so I've thrown some nanomedicine into your blood stream, so you should be right as rain within a few weeks, on your feet in fifteen days!" The nurse bubbled excitedly, "This new technology is simply amazing, don't you think? Bioengineering and all that jazz; I don't really understand much of it yet, I'm still in school. But I am certified to handle it so don't worry too much."

I stare out the window, into the inner hospital absent-mindedly as the nice lady continues her excited babble. Images of my friends float through my tired mind; Jase, X, Rick, Kalli and Graywing. I wonder what his name really is. Such a silly thing not to know for a normal person, when identity is so desperately important. Especially to people who need to hide it. It seems, if something is clandestine it amplifies its importance; because someone is that much more hesitant than the next person to give it away. And if they do you ought to cling to it with all you've got because they think you're something special. My mom taught me that, but despite my clinging to her hand, she pulled away anyway.

And with that final whisper of a thought, I drift into sleep.

* * *

"So how's this gonna work?" I ask, annoyed with everyone daring to enter within a ten-foot radius of me, a day after the bubbly nurse gave me the shot containing the nanomedicine. All six of us are crowded in my room, door open as dad requests.

"I'll stay with you guys at your hideout." Graywing says, sitting down at the edge of the danger-zone-radius.

I look up at him in surprise, "Um, we don't live at our hideout. It's not exactly Mount Justice, we meet there, maybe stay for a few hours at a time. It's an abandoned warehouse; one huge room."

"So you guys haven't done anything with it?" He says skeptically.

"We installed the computers and some other tech, there two couches and a perch that I've claimed but that's it." I explain, feeling stupid and ridiculously young and inexperienced; not something I'm accustomed to feeling around my peers...or people in general for that matter.

He huffs and stands, I hold up a hand gesturing for him to help me up. I'm still sore, despite the medicine and surgery. A week more before I'm a hundred percent again. Graywing grabs my hand and braces his feet on the floor sub-consciously before pulling me up off the floor from my sitting position.

I turn around, catching a glimpse of Dad and Batman talking with anger and worry...even fear, written on their faces. Something tells me this has nothing to do with me being injured; Batman's like an uncle to me but if it were me he was worried about he'd be in here with me. To be honest, this is the closest to panicked as I've ever seen Batman.

My dad nods, and Bats whirls around and walks down the hallway, out of sight. I turn to Graywing.

"What was that about? What happened?" I ask, my voice seeming petty and suspicious.

Graywings eyes shift from my face to the door, as though wishing he could escape.

"Uh," He starts uncomfortably, "We aren't supposed to tell you before you're recovered, stress can weaken your immune system."

I glare daggers at him, and he suddenly finds his shoes very interesting. I huff and head towards the door and say, "Fine, I'll go find out myself."

Graywing's normal demeanor returns instantly, "Well aren't you just a little impatient brat! People don't give you want right when you want it and you storm off to get it yourself! Try trusting your friends for once!"

I whirl around and ignore the black spots that dance in my vision and reply, "You are _not _my friend! In my world, you have to earn friendship and trust, and until you do there isn't a force on earth that can make me believe a word you say!"

poisonous memories flood to the front of my mind and I grind my teeth together, glaring at Graywing and imagining him bursting into flames. I look closer and realize that it's not Graywing that I'm mad at, it's someone else entirely. I shove my anger back, and shake my head; wanting to clear it. I exhale and I deflate, my intimidating anger dissipating in seconds (or at least, appearing to.) X almost walks in the room but backs up real quick; knowing better than to interrupt my rage.

I have to force myself to meet his eyes. Graywing's face is stony, half way between real anger and frustration, jaw clenched tightly as though he's actually offended. This irritates me more than it should; he has no right to actually think I trust fully. In my mind, there are four levels of trust; average stranger, member of the League, friends and family, and close friend or close family. Right now Graywing's on the "Hey look! You're a part of the League, too!" Which isn't exactly the level to which I'd tell him why exactly I just blew up in his face.

I sigh and finally tire of our stare-down, "I'm sorry. I'm not a trusting person, but I have reasons for it."

He nods gruffly and briefly tries to maintain his stern-statue-like mannerism before finally accepting my apology, "Anyways, we didn't want to tell you about it because it would probably put you on edge, but I guess you seeing Bats here already did that."

I nod once and wait for him to continue.

"Star City's breakout wasn't the only one, there were eleven prison breaks and over forty large-scale robberies all over the world on that same day; which is why no backup was available. The prisons were mostly contained but we guess that there will be more planned and to be carried out at a later date..."

My eyes widen slightly and I and I can feel my brow furrowing. "It seems like a show of strength to throw us off, put us on edge, or even to have us feel like the worst has passed as strike us while we take a nap after our supposed victory. I'd rather not be the next Santa Anna, how about you?"

Graywing nods, accepting my theories as possibilities, "We should find Bats ASAP."

I agree quickly, happy to finally get out of the hospital room.

X and Jase are in the lobby and I wave them over, they grin, glad to see me up and about, but surprised that I'm aware of the small crisis ahead of us. I smile and pretend that I'm not aching or sore from the wounds.

Graywing suddenly scowls and pulls something out of a pocket, then looks back up at us all.

"We've got a problem." He turns to me, "It's started, they've got the guns and have locked in their targets. D.C and Paris have fallen, London, Bejing, Athens and Rome are under heavy attack. The enemy struck before we even had a chance to gather up the pieces of the last attack!"

My eyes widen in understanding and shock. He's...he's saying that the world is at war with a villain we don't even know the identity of.

The building shakes and rattles and crashes can be heard above us. But, mostly from below. What's coming for the people of the world?

A slippery sounding voice blazes over intercoms and sound systems throughout the world, "Hello! We are your new masters, to rule over the world in divisions, and we will make earth something special, a world with an army of superheroes that will conquer other planets to keep their precious earth-goers safe. Don't worry about finding us, heroes, we'll find you. After all, its on this world we want, its you whom we place worth on. Turn yourselves in or be hunted."

The voice gets quieter for a moment as though turning from the microphone and says, "prepare to hunt you targets. Find and retrieve. Keep harming to a minimum."

It blares again, "Toodle-oo, heroes, see you soon!"

* * *

So the gist is basically, someone/thing is taking over earth to hold humans as captives so they can force the superheroes to work for them. Tada! Review? Please?


	5. Chapter 5

"What the hell is this?" X asks, her face red and furious, but I think she's using rage to cover up her fear, just like we all are.

"We've got to move." I say, reaching up from my chair and grabbing X's shoulder to pull my self up. I sway a little as I stand but the pain is still noticeable for sure. Once you've been injured in you core (ribcage down to your legs) you're basically stopped; arm or leg is one thing but every time you move a limb you work your core slightly, even standing and sitting up straight does; hence the swaying and wincing.

"C'mon." Bats says urgently bursting through the door, "Everybody out, now. Stay away from any tech with screens and cameras. Scatter in small groups and keep a low profile, make up identities and forge the necessary documents to your new persona, understood? Do not use cell phones or computers as a way of contact and in written messages use codes. Wear disguises, look out for each other and don't reveal yourself unless utterly necessary. People are going to die, but more will die if they know who you are. You can't save everyone, remember that. Now, go." The Dark Knight's tone hushed and tinted with worry and icy calm.

With a turn of the heel and a swish of his cloak, Batman left to give these instructions to the rest. All of us find a bathroom to change into street clothes in. Happy t-shirt, jeans and combat boots for me. A short while later, Kalli, Rick and my dad found their way into the room.

"Alright, how many should we split into?" Kalli asks, worry and fear leaking through her façade.

"Well who are the best of us? We need to split them up between one of four and another of three." Graywing said logically.

"Probably L-" X starts to say but my dad cuts her off.

"Don't speak names. She can be called Claw." My dad proclaims.

"...So apparently Inspector Gadget is taking over the world." I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm

My friends shrug and Graywing says, "It fits."

"How?!" I demand, wincing a little at the name and from the wound in my side.

"You fight with serrated knives and will do anything to claw your way to winning a fight." X explains Graywings logic.

I roll my eyes, but acquiase anyways by changing the subject, "What about everyone else! They need new names too." I say pointing at Jase and Kalli.

Graywing shrugs, "So Martian and super-kid. Maybe The Green Phantom and...Super-uh, something."

Kalli smiles at her new name and Jasejust looks annoyed, "Nothing 'Super,' OK?"

Graywing shrugs, "Fine, we'll just call you..." He looks at Jase and smirks, "All right, Prince, I got nothing."

"Prince works."I say, amused.

"What?" Jase asks, narrowing his eyes.

I smirk and say, "Prince. It fits; people tend to do what you say and you're...chivalrous and noble and every girl you save swoon, some guys too." I say, very amused.

Jases face turns a bright red and mutters some curses before saying, "I'm no knight in shining armour and I don't want to be seen as one."

Everyone rolls their eyes at that, "It's a good persona; full of hope. It's something people might need in the near future." Dad advises.

"Fine, what about the others?"

"X is low-low profile as is, and everyone calls me Kid-Flash Two." Rick grumbles, "I think we're good on the names."

"Anyway, back on track. I'd say we have five minutes before we should get moving. How do we split this up?" Graywing says.

"You and GA should be one seperate teams; you two are the most experianced." I say to Graywing, who nods.

"K-Green Phantom and me are the most powerful, but X and Claw are the better fighters over all." Jase says.

"I'm a liability, and most likely will be for another week or so, so I wouldn't suggest counting me amoung the better side of us fighting wise." I say, gritting my teeth as I force my pride down.

My dad nods, "Yes. Claw can't be in my group, I'd neverlet her fight even once she's better."

I nod, accepting that gladly; this was the same reason we could never fight together, dad would try to sheild me, which isn't actually keeping me safe. It just means that I'm more likely to sneak off to solve and fight crime on my own (and get into dangerous situations) when that happened.

"All right. I guess Claw is on my team, you should take Prince or Phantom then." Graywing concedes.

"I'll take care of Phantom and Quickfoot, you can have X, Claw and Prince." My dad divides us into the two teams, "Now get going. Don't go anywhere you've been seen before, make up your cover stories on the drive and, well, make sure you steal a car-low profile van or something?"

We nod, and head out to the street, hurrying until we come into sight. It's pandemonium, so I nudge them and we join the frenzy of fear. I say we've got two hours before everyone gets off the street, then after about a week everyone will cautiously begin to go back out if nothing major happens and it will gradually turn into a new normal, but with fear and manipulationa part of everyday life. It will feel better than hiding behind locked doors, so most people will accept it unless given the opportunity to rise, so it'll be a while before anyone smart will strike back. Any attack now may be taken as a take-over of a take-over and that won't help anything; not to mention that the mastermind or minds will be extra guarded at this point in the plan.

So, we scramble around, X helping me walk faster than I should at this point in healing. We finally find a mini-van and with no owner in sight and the driver's door ajar, it's practically an invitation for us to take it.

Graywing takes the drivers seat, Jase the passenger seat, X sits in the middle and I take up the entire back seat by myself, trying every possible position to make my wound hurt the least. Graywing speeds out into the streets, the sea of people parting for the few people in cars daring (or ruthless)enough to drive through this chaos.

"Where are we even going?" I ask, raising my voice so I can be heard over the insanity outside of the speeding car.

"No idea. I'll stop when we find something suitable; in Starling or not." Graywing states.

I nod, "All right. So, who are we, anyways?"

"I'm..."X pauses to think, "Ella...Pattington...?"

"Middle name? Age? Parents name? Mom's middle name? Siblings?Siblings names? Pets and their names? Hometown? Primary school? College? Grandparents names?Hobbies? Talents? Food favorites? Dislikes? Fears? Childhood memories?" I ask, in disbelief of her pathetically incomplete persona.

X sighs and Jase huffs, "This is going to take a lot more thought than I thought."

I smile, and say, "Ask me questions, I'll make up my answers on the spot, promise."

"Hi, I'm Allen Fray, what's your name?" Graywing asks me.

"I'm Melina Gale, nice to meet you." I say, smiling politely.

"So, where are you from?" He asks, "I've got my roots in Sacramento."

"Really? I'm from Gotham, but my family left when I was ten after my older brother, Mike, was killed. They said he got hit by a car but no one ever owned up to it."

"Wow, I'm sorry for your loss. I don't have any siblings." Graywing says with fake sympathy for my fake brother.

"So, on a lighter note, what do you like to do in your free time?" I say, with sad eyes and a smile on my face (I can see my face in the rear view mirror, so I know exactly how convincing or not I look.)

"I like to swim and play basketball, but I'm also an avid reader, sci-fi mostly." Graywing-as-Allen-says, almost embarrassed.

"Really? I'm a fan all things Science-Fiction and fantasy." I say, my smile seeming a little less sad.

"Awesome!" He replies, "Though I like post-apocalyptic the best."

"We might soon be living in a post-apocalyptic story." I mutter, ending the persona's conversation.

Everyone in the car immediately stiffens at my grim thought.

"Yes, I guess so." Jase says quietly.

"Let's not let it get to that." Graywing says coolly.

I nod, "Yes. But we have to wait until the opportune moment, and that might be when they're in total control and are feeling secure in their power; then is when we will have the best chance. Until then we will plan, plot, develop codes and rally our forces. But right now we need to find a place to get this stuff done."

Three other heads nod and the car speeds up, racing through the streets of Starling City, away from our lives and towards our place in the fate of the world as we know it.

* * *

Hello there! It's been sooooo long since I've updated this so I figured I ought to. :) Anyways, please, please, please tell me your opinions on this story, you're all awesome.

-BeingWhoIWishIWas


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